tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381Thu, 27 Jul 2017 12:39:02 +0000abortionfeminismflip-floppingmoviespoliticsreligionspecial interest groupscarnaby fudgeSomething will come of this. I hope it mayn't be human gore.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (carnaby)Blogger729125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-2680334638082463679Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:17:00 +00002012-10-26T12:00:16.599-07:00Going Nokia 920It's official, I'm tossing my stupid iPhone, abandoning Android, and going Windows Phone 8 via the Nokia 920. iTunes has aggravated me from the beginning, while Amazon Prime has rocked. Android feels like it was developed by a bunch of stoned hackers, which is probably close to the truth.<br /><br />It's time to make the leap to something new. I used to run Linux 100% (Gentoo, not stupid Ubuntu), until Windows 7, and I haven't run Linux at all since Windows 7. Sure, I miss my bash shell and multiple virtual desktops, but it's a small price to pay. Windows 8 looks really cool and that's good enough for me.<br /><br />I remember having a look at the Nokia 900, with high expectations, but I was disappointed. Low-res screen, Windows Phone 7, not good enough. But now the time is ripe.&nbsp; <br /><br />Nokia 920 and Windows Phone 8, bring it on.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2012/10/going-nokia-920.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (carnaby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-1128666737330154101Wed, 22 Aug 2012 20:24:00 +00002012-08-22T22:07:45.461-07:00The Fudge Guide to Opening a New PayPal AccountDo NOT open a PayPal account. PayPal is evil and deserves to die a horrible corporate death. Should you disregard this warning here are the steps you must take to ensure that PayPal doesn't keep all your information forever when they decide to lock you out of your account for reasons beyond your control:<br /><br />1. DO NOT use your primary personal bank account. Don't do it! Open a crap bank account at some banking institution and use that account ONLY for transacting with PayPal. <br /><br />2. DO NOT use your personal credit cards that you like and use for other purposes. Get a separate credit card, preferably associated with the institution holding your PayPal bank account.<br /><br />3. DO NOT use any phone number or email address you care about. Only use contact information you can walk away from without any grief on your part. PayPal never calls anyway, so get a pay as you go phone and its associated phone number, and then toss it when the minutes run out. <br /><br />4. DO NOT use your home address! PayPal doesn't allow post office boxes, but they have no way of blocking your UPS Store mailbox etc. Suppose your box number is 221, then in your address simply refer to it as "unit 221" or "#221" or whatever.<br /><br />5. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT give PayPal your social security number. Don't do it!<br /><br />If it's already too late and you have a PayPal account that uses any of the personal information listed above, and your account hasn't yet been locked, there's still hope! Just go through steps 1-5 above and update your PayPal account accordingly. Once your account is locked out you are toast and you'll never be permitted to change any of the information, including your banking information, ever. EVER.<br /><br />And you might want to check out the Ebay Stealth Guide: http://www.auctionstealth.com/http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-fudge-guide-to-opening-new-paypal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (carnaby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-6103180261854871311Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:13:00 +00002012-06-08T12:15:35.465-07:00Let that be your last Internet forumAfter spending a fruitless hour trying to find an answer to a question on several different online forums, I now believe that any semblance of actual human thought is just an illusion created by an evil programmer who has unleashed an evil spambot, the sole function of which is to infiltrate Internet forums and flood them with barely-literate posts. <br /><br />The evil programmer's Machiavellian algorithm produces the prose equivalent of a raisin loaf baked by the prince of darkness, himself: the batter consists of extreme run-on sentences, to the point of entire paragraphs with no punctuation whatsoever, no capitalization, frequent misspellings (including impenetrable textspeak), and overall poor grammar; contained within this hideous batter are few shriveled little raisins of vital information, the only reason you claw your way through all this wretched prose in the first place. Desperate for this information, you go through loaf after satanic loaf in these forums until, exhausted and broken by the effort, you begin to suspect that you and the evil programmer are the only conscious entities existing in an infinite and otherwise empty universe that even God has abandoned in disgust, and you and he are doomed to a bitter and meaningless struggle until the end of time like those two black-and-white guys in that old episode of <i>Star Trek</i>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6m4i97jmHZU/T9JNs8lNVFI/AAAAAAAAACs/aqNhECT2uxE/s1600/letthatbe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6m4i97jmHZU/T9JNs8lNVFI/AAAAAAAAACs/aqNhECT2uxE/s320/letthatbe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Either that or public schools really, really suck, and have for the last 20 years or so.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2012/06/let-that-be-your-last-internet-forum.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-2887805562201213108Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:05:00 +00002011-10-02T22:17:33.317-07:00For the Star Wars geek who has everythingCheck it out: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044392/Star-Wars-coins-legal-tender-Polynesian-island-Niue.html">Star Wars coins as legal tender</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzX8QOgvmNc/TolFVvTsAsI/AAAAAAAAACQ/445UMQFMlMs/s1600/starwarscoins.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzX8QOgvmNc/TolFVvTsAsI/AAAAAAAAACQ/445UMQFMlMs/s400/starwarscoins.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659130646546350786" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Get 'em now. It's only a matter of time before George Lucas swoops in, ruins the design, and reissues them as special editions.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/10/for-star-wars-geek-who-has-everything.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-6547375308798848774Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:03:00 +00002011-09-02T12:09:35.634-07:00Is this a joke?For real? Really? <span style="font-style: italic;">Seriously?</span>
<br />
<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YmW3JsRXBG8" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />One of the YouTube comments:
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yes, it is the same one used in Revenge of the Sith. This is getting completely out of hand now. George simply isn't﻿ going to be happy until this movie is practically unwatchable, it seems.</span><span style="font-style: italic;">
<br /></span>http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/09/is-this-joke.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-8419516960930746382Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:20:00 +00002011-07-10T13:00:40.622-07:00Exercise and moodsA twofold warning for anyone who does intense exercise and is experiencing negative moods.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beware Blood Sugar Drops</span><br /><br />After a long hiatus, I got back on a regimen of intense workouts; but to my surprise I began suffering severe post-exercise feelings of agitation, depression, and fatigue. Never had this problem when I was a competitive athlete, but for whatever reason it's a big problem now. The Senior Fudge, who is a personal trainer, immediately recognized this as a blood sugar problem. I was always working out on an empty stomach, and it was causing my blood sugar to plummet. I started eating half of a banana and an ounce or two of lean meat one hour before working out, and then the other half of the banana and another couple ounces of protein immediately after exercising, along with some water. That completely cured me of the post-exercise symptoms I was experiencing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beware (Certain) Protein Drinks</span><br /><br />I experimented with using protein drinks (Muscle Milk) after exercising, but found that the stuff was having an adverse affect on my mood. For days, I experienced nonstop feelings of intense agitation and rage, seemingly out of nowhere. My poor husband suffered through these berserker rages until one day when I skipped MM after a workout, and my mood immediately settled back to normal. A quick Google search revealed that other people have experienced the same problem after consuming MM. I don't know, or really care, what the causal link is, but it seems wise to just stick with fruit+meat from now on.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/07/exercise-and-moods.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-4975837057480402204Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:44:00 +00002011-04-15T09:05:44.195-07:00Obama happenedLinton Weeks at NPR.com asks, "<a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/04/15/135391188/whatever-happened-to-the-anti-war-movement?ft=1&amp;f=1001">Whatever Happened to the Anti-War Movement?</a>" Weeks cites Celia Cook-Huffman, professor of "conflict resolution" at Juniata College, who suggests the reasons may be as varied as lack of a draft to incite people to protest, guilt over the way Vietnam vets were treated, and the squelching of bad news from the war fronts by the military.<br /><br />Well, lessee. There was no draft during the Bush years, protesters and media alike felt no guilt over calling the men and women in our armed forces murderers and brutes, and there was no end to the bad news coming from war fronts even with the "chill wind" of dissent-crushing blowing from the Bush White House.<br /><br />To his credit, Weeks also cites David Boaz from the Cato Institute, who identifies the real reason:<br /><blockquote>[Boaz] concludes that the anti-war activity in the United States — and around the world — a few years ago "was driven as much by antipathy to George W. Bush as by actual opposition to war and intervention."<br /><br />To buttress his assertions, Boaz cites <a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Emheaney/Partisan_Dynamics_of_Contention.pdf">a recently published study</a> of anti-war protesters. The research was conducted by Michael Heaney of the University of Michigan and Fabio Rojas of Indiana University. It concludes that the anti-war movement in America evaporated because Democrats — inspired to protest by their anti-Republican feelings — stopped protesting once the Democratic Party achieved success in Congress in 2006 and then in the White House in 2008. <p>"As president, Obama has maintained the occupation of Iraq and escalated the war in Afghanistan," Heaney, an assistant professor of organizational studies and political science, said in <a href="http://ur.umich.edu/1011/Apr11_11/2250-did-obamas-election">a news release</a>. "The anti-war movement should have been furious at Obama's 'betrayal' and reinvigorated its protest activity."</p></blockquote><p></p>Should have been, but weren't. I'll give props to Dennis Kucinich, who is calling for Obama's impeachment for pretty much the same reason that he wanted Bush impeached. But everybody else in the protest movement? Partisan hacks, no principles. Hey, NPR, we knew this all along. You didn't?http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/04/obama-happened.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-167745993483449223Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:43:00 +00002011-04-15T09:06:57.600-07:00Movie review haikus<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Of Gods and Men</span><br /><br />Algerian strife<br />Cannot make these monks go home<br />Curiously dull<br /><br />---<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Hanna</span><br /><br />Young girl on the run<br />Shades of River from <span style="font-style: italic;">Firefly</span><br />I forget the rest<br /><br />---<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Your Highness</span><br /><br />Much obscenity<br />Could have been entertaining<br />If it had more laughs</div>http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/04/movie-review-haikus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-1917969628844783134Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:23:00 +00002011-04-03T13:25:53.760-07:00What do the police stand for?I was one of those people who thought the police were the good guys. I used to think people who distrusted the police were guilty of something or habitually on the wrong side of the law. I used to give the police the benefit of the doubt when one of them was accused of wrongdoing. I used to get choked up when I read about an officer gunned down in the line of duty. I used to contribute to funds for the families of fallen officers.<br /><br />Not anymore. Not ever again.<br /><br />A close friend in Canada has been accused by a former friend of something very bad. While it likely does not involve a prison term, it has already cost my friend a hard-earned reputation and every atom of this person's peace of mind.<br /><br />Everything the accuser has alleged is false. The accusations are based on the worst, most pathetic and egregious lies I've ever heard. Every single one of these lies is easily disproved, if the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) officer who conducted the investigation would have taken the time to actually investigate the accuser's claims. But the Mountie didn't pursue them. He concluded the investigation and charges were laid <span style="font-style: italic;">without the officer even bothering to take a statement from the accused</span>. This was followed by a press release that was filled with inaccuracies, which I strongly suspect were deliberate.<br /><br />Why lie to the press? What was the motivation for this? Nobody knows.<br /><br />Once my friend was in possession of the police report, several contradictions were immediately apparent, not only in the accuser's statements but between the accuser's statements and those of another person who was questioned by the RCMP. That would have alarm bells sounding for any reasonable person interested in the truth, but these inconsistencies weren't investigated. Why? Doesn't the truth matter?<br /><br />The answer is no. The truth doesn't matter.<br /><br />My friend has sought the advice of an advocacy group for the wrongfully accused and was told that the police are not interested in the truth. Based on what I've seen, I believe it. The advocacy group claims police are primarily motivated to find a guilty person and gather evidence to support a guilty verdict. I believe it.<br /><br />So it goes to trial. My friend has hired one of the top defense attorneys in western Canada. Given the weakness of the case, I have little doubt that it will ultimately be dismissed by a judge, but not before it has cost my friend a great deal.<br /><br />No little cost is that loss of faith in your fellow person and in an institution ostensibly guided by "integrity," "honesty," and "accountability."<br /><br />Even without this agonizing personal experience, it's hard to dismiss evidence of police malfeasance in this age of ubiquitous video.<br /><br />A few years ago, video was released showing Mounties <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html">tasering a man to death</a> at the Vancouver International Airport within seconds of being called to the scene.<br /><br />In January of this year a Mountie in Kelowna was caught on video <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/rcmp-suspends-bc-mountie-caught-kicking-man/article1864994/">kicking the face of a man</a> who was already complying with officers and on his hands and knees.<br /><br />God only knows the day-to-day violations of trust that occur all over British Columbia with the RCMP -- a recent article i<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>n the <a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Nanaimo+family+wants+change+police+investigating+misdeeds/4464305/story.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Times Colonist</span></a> states that complaints against the RCMP in B.C. have been steadily rising for some time, and punctuates this claim with the story of a woman in Nanaimo who alleges that a Mountie punched her, shattering her face, because she complained about his conduct.<br /><br />This is the reason people distrust the police. This is the reason there is so little good will towards law enforcement.<br /><br />The police are not your friends. They are not on the side of truth. They are not on the side of justice. They are not there to protect you.<br /><br />I realize there are individual officers within the system who have integrity and are interested in truth and justice. But as Seth Godin writes, <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/04/the-worst-voice-of-the-brand-is-the-brand.html">the worst voice of the brand <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> the brand</a>.<br /><p></p><blockquote><p>Seems obvious, no? I wonder, then, why loyal and earnest members of the tribe hesitate to discipline, ostracize or expel the negative outliers.</p> <p>"You're hurting us, this is wrong, we are expelling you."</p> <p>What do you stand for?</p></blockquote><p></p>What do you stand for, indeed.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-do-rcmp-stand-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-7446319616984129703Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:32:00 +00002011-03-07T11:39:55.634-08:00My only peeve about mobile sites<span style="font-style: italic;">ARGH!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://xkcd.com/869/"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 550px; height: 148px;" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/server_attention_span.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-only-peeve-about-mobile-sites.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-2451438664743810388Tue, 22 Feb 2011 02:20:00 +00002011-02-21T18:47:43.875-08:00Amazing!Ever notice how AMAZING everything is these days?<br /><br />"My boyfriend is amazing!"<br /><br />"That movie was totally amazing!"<br /><br />"Your kazoo-playing is <span style="font-style: italic;">soooo</span> amazing!"<br /><br />Is everything really that impressive? Are our young people really that stunned by things that were considered only mildly interesting 10-20 years ago, or is it just reckless exaggeration? Is this a recent phenomenon or have I just started to notice it because I'm getting older?<br /><br />Now that I think about it, everything was TOTALLY AWESOME when I was a teenager. So, does AMAZING constitute progress? Probably as much as AWESOME was an improvement on GROOVY.<br /><br />(This pointless rant brought to you by a grumpy professor who normally likes goofy, young people well enough, but is AMAZED at how irritating over-usage of this word has become.)http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/02/amazing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-2338827668251933712Sun, 06 Feb 2011 17:51:00 +00002011-02-06T10:20:59.800-08:00Happy Reagan Centennial<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I-iH1jH2kAs/TU7jeea8OVI/AAAAAAAAAB8/rFJdL4JKx7A/s1600/reagan.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 349px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I-iH1jH2kAs/TU7jeea8OVI/AAAAAAAAAB8/rFJdL4JKx7A/s400/reagan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570639901805525330" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Say what you will about Reagan's policies, but I'll tell you one thing: I am grateful to have come of age during the 1980s when Reagan was in office. His optimism was infectious, and we all felt it -- even in Canada, where Carnaby and I grew up. We had a wonderful popular culture and we had real hope for the future based on the sense that America and the West were generally good places. Hard to believe there was ever a time like that. God willing, maybe we'll experience it again some day.<br /><br />Happy Reagan Centennial.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-reagan-centennial.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-4723658438061062537Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:04:00 +00002011-01-18T10:50:18.166-08:00How not to title your paperAlbert Einstein's paradigm-shifting paper on special relativity was titled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies."<br /><br />The paper by Max Planck that started the quantum revolution was titled "Entropy and Temperature of Radiant Heat."<br /><br />Fritz Zwicky's article introducing supernovae and neutron stars to the world was called "On Super-novae."<br /><br />Now we get stuff like <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.1924">this</a>. Do you think anyone outside of the authors' immediate sphere of interest has a clue what this paper is about?<br /><br />I'm sorry to say that more and more titles like this appear in physics journals every year. Not all great scientific articles of the past are eloquently and economically titled, but it's doubtful that anyone doing significant work in the early part of the previous century ever bestowed such a monstrous title on their work. Part of the problem is that the e-print service doesn't translate LaTeX code to HTML (I get around that by only using words and numerals in my titles), but even if the math symbols looked how they're supposed to look, that title still wouldn't compel anyone to read your paper. And it makes you the subject of mockery on an obscure gun blog.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-not-to-title-your-paper.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-6721285054378077042Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:37:00 +00002011-01-13T11:09:35.796-08:00So easy a kid could do itIt looked lame to have a Christmas post at the top now that we're well into January, so I'm posting some mildly interesting astronomy news. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/04/kid-discovers-supernova/">Ten-year-old Kid Discovers Supernova</a>:<br /><blockquote>Kathryn Aurora Gray of Fredericton, New Brunswick in Canada discovered the supernova explosion in a galaxy, called UGC 3378, within the faint constellation of Camelopardalis. The galaxy is approximately 240 million light-years away.<br /><br />"I'm really excited. It feels really good," Gray told the Toronto Star.<br /><br />Gray made the discovery on Jan. 2 using images that were taken of galaxy UGC 3378 on New Year's Eve. The supernova was then verified by Illinois-based amateur Brian Tieman and Arizona-based amateur astronomer Jack Newton, who then reported it to the International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.<br /></blockquote>This is one reason I like astronomy so much; any amateur with the right equipment, the time, and a little luck, can make discoveries like this.<br /><blockquote>Despite being the discoverer of this one, Gray didn't get to bestow a name on the object, which is known simply as Supernova 2010lt.<br /></blockquote>Astronomers rarely get to name their discoveries. Usually it's a catalog designation (e.g. NGC 1068) or celestial coordinates (e.g. SDSS J024240.70-000047.9). Objects that are sometimes named after/by their discoverers are comets, asteroids, planets, and nebulae -- though they often also have official IAU designations more like the ones mentioned. Supernovae are designated according to the year and order in which they are discovered. The first supernova discovered in 2011 will be Supernova 2011a or SN 2011a. They were already up to 'lt' by the time Gray made her discovery, which indicates how many of these objects are observed annually.<br /><br />Fun fact: Supernovae are expected to go off at a rate of about one per century per galaxy. We observe a lot of them (with telescopes) because there are a lot of galaxies. However, the last supernova to go off in the Milky Way was SN 1604, which was so bright that it could be seen during the day. Four centuries without a supernova -- pretty weird!http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2011/01/so-easy-kid-could-do-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-1317497732980242367Sat, 25 Dec 2010 02:40:00 +00002010-12-24T18:47:29.514-08:00Merry Christmas<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DKk9rv2hUfA?fs=1" width="425" frameborder="0" height="344"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.<br /><br /></span> -- Luke 2:8-14<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/12/merry-christmas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-4621755426331513089Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:30:00 +00002010-12-19T12:05:19.481-08:00Christmas Comes Early to the Stapers HouseholdIn Texas, nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite like a new gun<br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/?action=view&amp;current=judge1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/judge1.jpg" width="80%" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/?action=view&amp;current=judge2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/judge2.jpg" width="80%" /></a><br /><br />Hubby got me my very own <a href="http://www.taurususa.com/product-details.cfm?id=662&amp;category=Pistol">Taurus "The Judge" Public Defender</a> yesterday -- it's a handgun that is chambered for both .410 shotgun shells and .45 Long Colts.<br /><br />He'll be traveling a lot for work in January and wanted me to have a convenient home defense weapon. We have a modified Mossberg 500 plus two .45 ACPs in strategic places around the house, but the Public Defender is a more convenient option for me if I have to deal with an intruder close-range. Also, it'll be a handy car defense weapon for the few road trips I take annually.<br /><br />According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_Judge">Wikipedia</a>:<br /><blockquote>It got its name "The Judge" in 2006 when Bob Morrison, Executive Vice President, learned that judges in high-crime areas of Miami, Florida were purchasing the revolver for personal defense in their courtrooms, and after Morrison investigated further, the model designation was changed from 4410 to 4510 to more accurately reflect the revolver's versatility (.45 Colt + 410 shot -> "4510"). Taurus International reports that the Judge is their top-selling firearm.<br /></blockquote>We sent photos to my father in-law, who lives in Finland, and he commented that the EU wouldn't even know how to classify the thing (besides "scary" and "banned," that is).<br /><br />Range trip pending.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-comes-early-to-stapers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-5010509966442449004Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:24:00 +00002010-12-19T11:28:51.136-08:00Love Child: Andy DickDecember's Love Child is Andy Dick, who looks like his parents might have been Woody Allen and Garth Algar from <i>Wayne's World</i>.<br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/?action=view&amp;current=woody_algar.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/woody_algar.jpg" width="80%" /></a>http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/12/love-child-andy-dick.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-6898826702329959151Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:52:00 +00002010-12-16T07:26:21.725-08:00Erin CrockabitchMy wife coined that nickname for Erin Brockovich many years ago. Seems it's <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2010/12/13/erin-brockovich-town-shows-no">appropriate</a>.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/12/erin-crockabitch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (carnaby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-729910932623051596Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:32:00 +00002010-12-16T07:37:30.577-08:00A Finnish Christmas Story - Updated!Leave it to the Finns to make the only Christmas movie showing in the U.S. this year. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9RQlikX4vvw?fs=1" width="480" frameborder="0" height="295"></iframe><br /><br />Based on the popular shorts by Rare Exports:<br /><br />[Warning: Mildly NSFW, as it features a bit of Christmas sausage, if you get my drift.]<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ei69bYwwCvc?fs=1" width="480" frameborder="0" height="295"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xkyqODDF-LU?fs=1" width="480" frameborder="0" height="295"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> Saw it this weekend. Entertaining movie with actual Finnishness. A little dark, but funny. Most of the movie is in Finnish with subtitles. I understand a little Finnish, enough to know that all of the bad words (there were a lot) were translated very mildly for the English subtitles. Hubby, who laughed heartily during the movie, commented that the Finnish dialogue was well written -- apparently there are subtleties in the language that were not (or could not be) adequately translated. Also, the boy's dad looks a lot like hubby.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/12/finnish-christmas-story.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-6893324719586350558Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:48:00 +00002010-11-30T21:57:46.847-08:00Love Child: Bruce BoudreauIntroducing a new feature here at Carnaby Fudge, called "Love Child," wherein I point out how a famous person looks like the love child of two other famous people.<br /><br />Our November (just under the wire) Love Child is Washington Capitals head coach, Bruce Boudreau, who looks to me like he was co-sired by Mickey Rooney and Nikita Khrushchev.<br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/?action=view&amp;current=nikita_rooney.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/hautlipz/nikita_rooney.jpg" width="80%" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Feel free to send in suggestions.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/11/love-child-bruce-boudreau.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-648712453484724487Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:12:00 +00002010-11-24T10:21:16.501-08:00The Lost Lesson of ThanksgivingJohn Stossel provides a <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/11/24/john-stossel-lost-lesson-thanksgiving/">Thanksgiving history lesson</a> your kids are unlikely to learn in school:<br /><blockquote>Long before the failure of modern socialism, the earliest European settlers gave us a dramatic demonstration of the fatal flaws of collectivism. Unfortunately, few Americans today know it. <br /><br />The Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony organized their farm economy along communal lines. The goal was to share the work and produce equally. <br /><br />That's why they nearly all starved.<div></div></blockquote><div><div style="overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;"><span></span></div></div>RTWT.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/11/lost-lesson-of-thanksgiving.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-2033719966327168789Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:03:00 +00002010-11-23T16:04:49.395-08:00Charles Bronson Kills HipstersHey, man, is your coat a vintage coat?<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gEyP4Q8igQY?fs=1" width="425" frameborder="0" height="344"></iframe>http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/11/charles-bronson-kills-hipsters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-8553249374174759761Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:40:00 +00002010-11-20T15:49:15.425-08:00Design Your UniverseWhat you get when you combine death metal, Wagner, Hans Zimmer, Carl Orff, and quantum mechanics:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7drI-szpeTg?fs=1" width="425" frameborder="0" height="344"></iframe>http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/11/design-your-universe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-538889124246490768Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:39:00 +00002010-10-12T10:42:26.018-07:00Bad JokeI just made up the following joke:<br /><br />Q: What did the abacus say to the slide rule when it was time to go home from the math party? <br /><br />A: Calculator<br /><br />Get it? Calc-u-later? That was pretty bad. Yet the humor lies not in the joke itself, but in the badness.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/10/bad-joke.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (carnaby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539381.post-2648828511129041276Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:52:00 +00002010-09-28T18:38:52.854-07:00Medication NationWent to the emergency room this afternoon, because I thought my nectarine was trying to kill me. Turns out what I thought was a piece of nectarine lodged in my throat was a big scratch on my esophagus from a tiny shard of the pit. These two things apparently feel exactly the same. Anyway. The triage nurse asked me, on a scale of 1-10, how much pain was I feeling. I told him zero; I was just exceedingly uncomfortable. He wrote it down on my chart. The nurse who treated me in the observation room asked how painful my condition was. I told him not at all, and he wrote that down on my chart. The doctor came in, looked at my chart, asked me what kind of pain I was in, and I told him none. He wrote it down. Later, as he's discharging me, the doctor hands me a prescription for Vicodin. I told him I didn't need it, because (<span style="font-style: italic;">again</span>) I wasn't in any pain. He said to take it anyway just in case.<br /><br />I remember how, even 10-15 years ago, it took a lot of convincing to get a doctor to prescribe <span style="font-style: italic;">anything</span>, let alone a powerful painkiller. Now I have a doctor pushing narcotics on me over my protestations. Is this one reason why <a href="http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=119403">half of all Americans are on prescription drugs</a> and why <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/us/24drugs.html">addiction to prescription painkillers is a big problem</a>? Yes, and it's insane, and it must confuse the heck out of kids who are supposed to understand why there is a War on (Some) Drugs<span style="font-size:85%;"><sup>TM</sup></span>.http://carnabyfudge.blogspot.com/2010/09/medication-nation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stickwick Stapers)5